The present invention relates generally to vehicle suspension systems, and more particularly to mounting of the suspension to the vehicle body.
It is desirable to provide an energy mitigation device to reduce the peak suspension loads transmitted to the body structure. Having relatively high peak impact loads from the suspension into the body may require that the mass of the body adjacent to the suspension attachment is larger than desired. This increased mass also tends to increase the vehicle cost and may negatively impact fuel economy of the vehicle as well.
Previous suspension attachment assemblies have employed a urethane bumper, along with rigid plastic wedge on top of the bumper, to absorb jounce loads and transmit the loads through the shock upper mount assembly. However, this type of assembly still transmits jounce loads into the body that are higher than desired. This results in the mass and cost of the chassis and body systems of the vehicle that may be higher than is desired.